Design Teams and Publications

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

This sweet image is called "Sunset Sway". I tried to keep it pastel but in the end that didn't happen. I find that keeping things light is hard as the Copic's are so vivid and yummy and the color choices are endless. I couldn't help but do the Tulips in orange. I thought I would play around a bit more with cast shadows to give depth. Most of the shadows are correct I think but if they are not don't judge me. It was fun to do anyways.

Simple Tulips and Anemones swayin' in the breeze!! There is actually two different choices for this digital image, one is with a butterfly. Power Poppy has the mose amazing digital detailed floral.

Ever curious about all the little dots that I love to add to cards? Well if you haven't heard me raving yet about Nuvo Crystal Drops you might need to listen. Gone are the days of adding brads in all different sizes. All you need is the Nuvo Crystal drops to add beautiful accents in any color to compliment your project. They dry so quickly, unlike other products I have tried. They come in a HUGE range of colors and I really love the transparent ones like almost look like water drops in many colors. Tonic nailed it on this product!!!

Sunday, April 16, 2017

Here is one of the sweet cards we will be coloring up and creating at the Advanced Copic Retreat in Phoenix Arizona. May 19th is just around the corner and I am so excited to be hosting, teaching and creating with a large group of ladies. There is still time to register as we have a few spots left. You can find the link HERE with all the information. If you can't make the May event I hope to see you in October for the 4 day Copic Boot Camp.

Thanks to our amazing sponsors for making this work. For this card we will be concentrating on coloring fur. We will be using this adorable stamp from sponsor Heartfelt Creations called "You're Paw-fect". I purchased this die from Taylored Expressions (also a sponsor) called Notepaper & Clipboard to create the layering. Make it Crafty (sponsor) designed these adorable laser cut decorations and the sponsor Iamroses is sending the attendees flowers to complete this card. Just look at the pile of goodness for this event!

I call this style card a "throw-up" card (I know...thats so wrong), because it looks like someone threw up tons of yummy embellishments all over. I am showing my style of how to use all the pieces and still keep it grounded as well as how to cluster and layer. A pet peeve of mine is seeing stuff on cards just floating around...so I thought it would be fun to encourage grounding in card layouts. Of course there are different ways to do things and everyone has their creative styles so this will be so much fun to try.

This event is structured very differently from the event in the fall. For this event we learn techniques on images and then create cards. We will event be doing a little piece of framable artwork. At this time we have 45 attendees and my assistants and I will be having such an enjoyable time teaching and creating. There is always great food and a bounty of wonderful attendees!

For the fall event it is Boot Camp in a BIG way. JAM packed with techniques, loaded with information, tons of coloring with Copic's, lots of games and prizes, fabulous food and of course new friends.

Saturday, April 15, 2017

As if Kitties and Doggies weren't cool enough...Marianne Walker and Imagination International have another great book in the Coloring Foundations Series: Coloring Flowers with Copic Markers. The book is full of great step-out instructions and pictures. Filled with 8 tutorials from basics to intermediate. Included is the line art to scan and print on your favorite paper. It will help you understand how to color leaves and a variety of blossoms.

I found a little time today to get to play and this is the image I chose to color from the book. It shows how to add depth to your image just by....well I am not gonna tell you...haha....guess you will need to get the book. I am pleased with the end result.

I thought I would get a little fancy with the book and merged a bunch of the Siamese kitties together and place them onto a paw-print background. I wanted to focus on playing with cast shadows on the background to make the kitties pop-up off the card. Another super fun card to create. If you think this book is too easy, then take things further and add additional elements. There is always reason for practice and expanding your capabilities. Challenge yourself to go beyond the step by step.

Here is my finished card. I think my kitties turned out dimensional, like they are popping off the page don't you think. As my 2 year old would say, "I Likey".

Saturday, April 8, 2017

As soon as I saw this stamp from Craftin' Desert Divas "Hunny Bunny", I knew what I was going to make. Using a die from CCDesigns I created a little somethin'-somethin'. I wanted to make a fun Easter card and thought I would try my hand using the 2win Kirarina Oil-based Pens.

They have two shades of color in each pen, so I used them just like I would use my Copics. I added the light color first and then the darker in the shadowed area and blended it out with the light again. I drew the eggs and grass using the black Kirarina and then added the color.

I colored the stamp three times and colored it up. Cutting out the "windows" using the die on a 4.25 x 5.5 piece of paper and then drew in the eggs and the grass. Once it was all colored up using the 2win pens, I popped it up on a card base, and OOOH LA LA, hippity hoppity hurray! Done!

As I didn't have any grey or green colors on hand in the Kirarina I used my Copics to finish it off.

2win Kirarina Oil-based Pens come in 18 varieties with duel tips. Each one has two color tones. They have a round nib and a fine nib for details. Event though you would think that because they could be considered "too cute" for art as you can see you can create art. They are even Acid Free and can be used on slick surfaces. You can find them here at the link below. Check out all the fun colors! How about grabbing these and hiding them around the yard for a very colorful Easter egg hunt. I just might have to do that...start art young!

Friday, April 7, 2017

Ever have a idea but you are too tired to get out of bed? Well that always happens to me...this idea I actually remembered by morning.

This idea was a new way to texture card stock. Normally when I am texturing something I use a terry cloth or burlap or other textured textile. These items soak up the alcohol. My idea was using something that wouldn't soak it up, wax paper. I did try seran wrap but didn't like the results as much (will have to experiment more). Anyways, I airbrushed onto blending cardstock and then spritzed the crumpled wax paper and held it for a second onto the airbrushed background leaving some fun results. I really liked it. Once I had that "oh, it's cool" moment, the paper just sat on my desk staring at me.

I have had this stamp set from Stampendous sitting on my desk because I am working on a project for the Advanced Copic Retreat I am directing and teaching at in April in Phoenix. It is called Bouquet For You. It has so many different fun parts to it and can be used in so many ways. I decided to use one of the flowers from the set to create a simple card.
This was the perfect opportunity to play around with my new Nuvo Aqua Flow Brushes. I stamped the image in Versa Fine directly on top of my background and then used the Aqua Brushes to color it in. I am not "fluid" with water coloring, but it was super fun to do. The colors are so vivid but can be watered down if desired. I decided to not water them down but rather color directly with the Aqua brushes. I used the two purples and the two greens for this card. They come in sets of 3 and there are 4 sets plus an empty water brush set. I then colored the wonderful chipboard layered word from Make It Crafty using the Aqua Flow brush in both the purple and the green. It dried really quick so was able to glue it together and add it to the card. Once the image was dry I added white gel pen to the highlighted areas of the image. One would usually stop there but NO not me...I had to add my favorite embellishment, Nuvo Crystal drops. I used Bottle Green, Crushed Grape, and Violet Galaxy. The first two are mat and the galaxy has a shimmer. YUM!

All this because I had to experiment! Here are the links to some of these fun products. Now go do something that is not quite inside the box! You just never know what the outcome might be until you try!

Thursday, April 6, 2017

Here is the last little cutie for Aprils class at The Paper Collage. This new released stamp from Stampendous called "Sitting Pretty" is super adorable don't you think? I used it with one of my new favorite dies from Taylored Expressions, the Notepaper and Clipboard die. I will be getting a lot of use out of this one! Then to top it off I added White Nuvo Crystal drops to the hearts. Look how easy it is to make the elements stand out but just adding some Nuvo. I am such a sucker for those Nuvo's.

Just incase you don't know...Nuvo's dry pretty quickly and that is one of the reasons I am slowly getting all the colors...LURV!

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

This guy just made me smile. This is a new Stampendous! release. It has so much character and was a blast to color. I did a little dot texture on the background and wanting to make him pop so I used a bright contrasting color against the blue. I then made the dots on his head a little dimensional by giving each one a cast shadow. This will be a card I will demonstrate at The Paper Collage at the end of April. There are a few seats left if you want to join in.

If you are already attending be sure and order your Nuvo from the store so you can complete your cards at home. This card was SO much fun to create!

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Its time again for a fun class at The Paper Collage. Here is one of the fantastic cards we will be coloring featuring a sweet House Mouse®. We are touching upon a few great techniques such as creating backgrounds and grounding an object.

I hope if you are local you will join me. We have a few spots left in the afternoon class. The class details are under "class schedule" tab above.

If you are not local you can purchase this stamp beginning in April (Yes, you just got a sneak peek of a new release) and color it up on your own. The colors I used are below.

You know how much I love my Nuvo's...well if you saw my stash you would! Tomorrow you will see a card with tons of Nuvo Crystal Drops. Also a favorite die would be the Stitched Hillside Border die by Lawn Fawn. I tend to use it a lot and has so many different options and ways to use. Yes, these are just some of my MUST HAVES! I am an enabler! You're welcome!

Copics:

YR04 YR07

E50 E51 E93

E31 E35 E57

B000 B02

BV20 BV23

I thought, as I have just colored this image up, I would also enter it into the House Mouse challenge blog challenge HMFMC #238 "Food and or Drink"....popsicles are a main food group if you live in Arizona :). If you love House-Mouse® you must join in on one of the upcoming challenges.

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